Problem: Three friends have a total of 6 identical pencils, and each one has at least one pencil. In how many ways can this happen?
The largest number of pencils that any friend can have is four. There are 3 ways that this can happen: $(4,1,1)$, $(1,4,1)$ and $(1,1,4)$. There are 6 ways one person can have 3 pencils: $(3,2,1)$, $(3,1,2)$, $(2,3,1)$, $(2,1,3)$, $(1,2,3)$ and $(1,3,2)$. There is only one way all three can have two pencils each: $(2,2,2)$. The total number of possibilities is $3+6+1=\boxed{10}$.